GENETIC DIVERSITY AMONG RHIZOBIUM STRAINS FROM CICER-ARIETINUM L

Following bacteriological cloning and determination of their symbiotic performance, 15 representative, diverse strains of chickpea rhizobia were genetically analysed for restriction fragment length polymorphism s. Analyses of genomic DNAs showed several different groups. Almost ha lf (7) of the strains examined were very similar and clearly represent ed a single species. There was a related group of four strains which c ould be a subspecies. There was also one distinct group of four strain s which were apparently unrelated to the reference strain 3377. This l atter group may constitute a separate species. Phenotypic differences should be investigated further.